Americana – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Sun Volt – Windfall

I’ve always liked this kind of music. It’s hard to put it into one category. You can call it alternative country, Americana, or roots rock. I just call it good music. This song is one of those songs that sounds like it could have been recorded twenty years earlier or yesterday. It has a country feel to it, but there is plenty of rock underneath. Jay Farrar has a voice that fits this kind of music perfectly.

Son Volt formed in 1994 after Uncle Tupelo broke up. That band had been led by Jay Farrar and Jeff Tweedy, and when they went their separate ways, Tweedy formed Wilco while Farrar formed Son Volt. Farrar brought in former Uncle Tupelo drummer Mike Heidorn, along with brothers Jim and Dave Boquist. Their debut album, Trace, was released in 1995, with this song opening the album. It’s one of those records that helped define the alternative country sound of the nineties.

This is a song about getting away for a while, driving down the road, and trying to leave your troubles behind. The acoustic guitars, pedal steel, and Farrar’s voice give it a relaxed feeling, but there is a little sadness underneath it all. That’s what I like about the song. It’s just a great melody with a little country and rock mixed together. Sometimes the best thing you can do is get in your car, turn up the radio, and drive. This is a perfect song for that.

The album peaked at #166 on the Billboard Album Charts and #7 on the Billboard Heatseekers Charts.

Windfall

Now and then it keeps you running
It never seems to die
The trail’s spent with fear
Not enough living on the outside
Never seem to get far enough
Staying in between the lines
Hold on to what you can
Waiting for the end
Not knowing when

May the wind take your troubles away
May the wind take your troubles away
Both feet on the floor, two hands on the wheel
May the wind take your troubles away

Trying to make it far enough, to the next time zone
Few and far between past the midnight hour
You never feel alone, you’re really not alone

Switching it over to AM
Searching for a truer sound
Can’t recall the call letters
Steel guitar and settle down

Catching an all-night station somewhere in Louisiana
It sounds like 1963, but for now it sounds like heaven
May the wind take your troubles away
May the wind take your troubles away
Both feet on the floor, two hands on the wheel
May the wind take your troubles away

May the wind take your troubles away
May the wind take your troubles away

Ry Cooder – Crazy ‘Bout an Automobile (Every Woman I Know)

Ry Cooder is one of those guitar players who seems to be able to play anything. I’ve always loved his playing, especially his slide guitar work. He never sounds like he is trying to impress you with how fast he can play. Everything he plays seems to fit the song, and his tone is immediately recognizable. He plays for the song and for a purpose.

This song appeared on Cooder’s 1980 album Borderline. Like so many songs associated with Cooder, he reached back into American music for this one. It was written by Billy “The Kid” Emerson, who originally recorded it in the 1950s. Cooder had a knack for finding older blues, R&B, country and folk songs and introducing them to another generation without taking away what made them interesting in the first place.

The song is basically built around a man’s complaint that every woman he knows wants a man with a car, while he is stuck walking around on his “rubber heels.” It’s funny and doesn’t take itself seriously. Cooder plays right into that humor, turning the song into something that feels almost like a conversation between the musicians.

That’s part of what makes the track work for me. It has a loose feeling, but don’t mistake loose for sloppy. These guys could play. Cooder’s guitar moves in and out of the song without taking it over. He could have easily turned it into a guitar showcase, but that’s never been what I like most about him. He plays for the song.

A live recording from London’s Victoria Apollo was also released as a single in 1981. That might be the perfect setting for a song like this because it works live really well. There is humor, great playing and plenty of room for the musicians to breathe.

Cooder’s career is an interesting one. He has worked with everyone from Captain Beefheart and the Rolling Stones to Randy Newman, Little Feat, John Lee Hooker and countless others. He also helped bring Cuban musicians to a huge international audience through the Buena Vista Social Club. Then there are his movie soundtracks, including Paris, Texas and Crossroads. His fingerprints are scattered all over music without him ever becoming the kind of big name his talent deserved.

I don’t know where I would rank Ry Cooder among guitar players, and I don’t really want to try. Guitar playing isn’t a sporting event. I just know that when I hear him play, I know who it is. That is telling in itself. Only a few guitar players have that certain style where you can tell.

It is fun, loose and rooted in music that came before it. That’s Ry Cooder in a nutshell. He didn’t just learn old American music. He listened to it, respected it and then helped keep it moving forward.

Crazy ‘Bout an Automobile (Every Woman I Know)

-Man, I’m gonna tell you my story
-Go on and tell about it, go on and tell about it more
-Just what I’ve been doing
-What you’ve been doing, Ry ?
-Well, you know I used to be particular about the women’s that I picked
-Aha!
-Yeah! They used to be tender, lean and tall, that’s all
-But the way things has been going, I’ll take ’em knock-kneed and bow-legged
-What ?
-I’ll even take ’em bald! Man. I’ll tell you why
-Please, tell me why!

Every woman I know is crazy ’bout an automobile
Every woman I know is crazy ’bout an automobile
And here I am standing with nothing but rubber heels.

He-hey, every woman I know, crazy ’bout an automobile
Oh, every woman I know, crazy ’bout an automobile
And here I am standing with nothing but rubber heels.

Now look’it here!
They say, walking women home is a thing of the past
Women want to ride and ride around in class
Some like Cadillacs, boys, some like Fords
Some like anything as long as it rolls.

Crazy ’bout an automobile [That’s right]
And here I am standing with nothing but rubber heels

Well, every woman I know she’s crazy ’bout an automobile
Every woman I know is crazy ’bout an automobile
And here I am standing with nothing but rubber heels

One more thing I wanna tell you

Said, riding and loving just can’t be beat,
You and your woman in your own front seat.
Now, she can play with your keys, shift the gears,
Turn on your radio just loud enough to hear.
Now, she can turn up the heat and flip on your fan,
And then you start rolling just as fast as you can.

Crazy ’bout an automobile
And just here I am standing with nothing but rubber heels

Man, when I get some money I just got to get me some kind of automobile
You don’t seem like the women in this town just don’t pay no attention to ya ‘less you’re driving
Look at that big, fine Buick over there
Oh, I like that one
Yeah, now, looks like somebody left the keys in it
Oh, let’s take a ride

Nothing but rubber heels

Uncle Tupelo – Graveyard Shift

The first thing that got me was that guitar riff. It has a raw sound that I love, but Graveyard Shift has much more going for it than a good riff. Farrar sings it like someone who has already lived through everything he is singing about. That is what surprised me when I watched the 1989 performance. These guys were young, but they didn’t sound young.

There is country in there. There is punk in there. There is some garage rock as well. Most of all, though, it sounds honest. Uncle Tupelo wasn’t trying to make old country music or follow what rock music was doing at the time. They took all of it and made something that sounded like them. And that riff doesn’t hurt either.

They were formed in Belleville, Illinois, with Jay Farrar, Jeff Tweedy, and Mike Heidorn at the heart of the original band. They took country and folk influences and mixed them with the harder sounds of punk and alternative rock. Farrar has said they were listening to bands such as Hüsker Dü while also drawing lyrical inspiration from Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan. That combination helped create the sound that would eventually be called alternative country or Americana.

Graveyard Shift was written by Farrar, Tweedy, and Heidorn and became the opening track on their 1990 debut album No Depression. Farrar takes the lead vocal, and the song sounds like the area the band came from. Belleville had been hit hard during the late 70s to the 80s. That frustration found its way into his writing. The song is about wanting to escape a place where times were tough. The music matches the lyrics perfectly. That riff keeps pushing forward while the rhythm stops, starts, and changes direction underneath it.

The live video I found was recorded in 1989, before No Depression was released. It was aired on St. Louis television in November. Watching them play it then is strange because it’s so raw. They look like three kids playing, yet the sound is already there.

Uncle Tupelo would only last until 1994, but what came afterward tells you something about the talent in that little band. Farrar formed Son Volt, while Tweedy went on to form Wilco. Their influence also lasted much longer than the band itself. The title No Depression was eventually adopted by the magazine devoted to the kind of roots and alt-country music Uncle Tupelo helped bring.

Graveyard Shift

Hometown, same town blues
Same old walls closing in
Oh what a life a mess can be
I’m sitting here thinking of you once again
Won’t you talk to me

Well, time won’t wait, better open the gate
Get up and start what needs to be done
It’s winding down, there’s much you missed
Working on that graveyard shift

Well, I’m not saying there’s nothing wrong as the day comes along
If what I see is true I could learn to believe
Can’t look away
The powers that be might take it all away
Together we burn, together we burn away

Some say a land of paradise
Some say a land of pain
Well, which side are you looking from
Some people have it all
Some all to gain

Well a man in a tie gonna break his twenty dollar bill
There’s plenty of reasons in this world
We’re no longer standing still

But I’m not saying there’s nothing wrong as the day comes along
If what I see is true I could learn to believe
Can’t look away
The powers that be might take it all away
Together we burn, together we burn away

There’s too much time spent looking for a reason
It’s the simple ones that beat the most truth
Oh, what a life a mess can be
I’m sitting here thinking of you once again
Give a thought to me

Well, time won’t wait, better open the gate
Get up and start what needs to be done
It’s running down, there’s much you missed
Working on that graveyard shift

Eggs Over Easy – Good ‘N’ Cheap … album review

Every now and then I run across an album that makes me forget about picking just one song. Good ‘N’ Cheap by Eggs Over Easy is one of those records. I kept telling myself I’d settle on a favorite, but every time another track came on I changed my mind. So I finally gave up and decided the album deserved the spotlight instead. They are an American band that helped start the pub rock scene. They also have a link (no pun intended) to Link Wray. This album has me excited; I recommend this to any roots music fan.

Eggs Over Easy were an American band, but their story became part of British rock history. Formed by Jack O’Hara, Austin de Lone, and Brien Hopkins, they moved to London in the early 1970s hoping to land a recording contract. While waiting for that break, they began playing regularly at the Tally Ho pub in Kentish Town. Those performances inspired countless local musicians and helped spark what would soon become the pub rock movement.

Bands like Brinsley Schwarz, Ducks Deluxe, Kilburn and the High Roads, and later Rockpile all owed something to the path Eggs Over Easy helped create. They may not have become stars themselves, but their influence reached far beyond what album sales ever showed.

This album was released in 1972. Good ‘N’ Cheap captures everything I enjoy about roots rock. It has country influences, rock and roll, blues, a little folk, and plenty of rhythm and groove. The songs never sound overproduced or forced. Instead, they feel like a group of musicians gathered in a room simply playing the music they loved. The album was co-produced by the legendary Link Wray, and you can hear that straightforward, no-frills approach from beginning to end.

There really isn’t a weak track here. Party Party opens the album with plenty of energy, while songs like Arkansas, Runnin’ Down to Memphis, The Factory, and Home to You all have their own personality. Some lean toward country rock, others have more of a bar-band feel, and a few could almost pass for early Americana years before that label became popular. What ties everything together is the songwriting. Nothing feels flashy. The hooks are natural, the harmonies are warm, and the musicianship is outstanding throughout. One song that I cannot get out of my head is the one called Henry Morgan about the 1600’s pirate.

Listening to this album, it’s easy to hear why so many musicians admired them. I hear pieces of The Band, a little early Little Feat, and hints of what Nick Lowe, Dave Edmunds, and other pub rock artists would soon be doing. At the same time, Eggs Over Easy never sound like they’re copying anyone. They found their own lane, and it still sounds fresh more than fifty years later.

Sometimes the best albums are the ones nobody talks about anymore. Good ‘N’ Cheap is one of those hidden gems that reminds me why I enjoy digging a little deeper. It has the rootsy feel I love, great songs from beginning to end, and musicians who clearly cared more about making honest music than chasing the latest trend. If you’ve never heard Eggs Over Easy before, this is the place to start. Don’t be surprised if you end up listening straight through without ever reaching for the skip button.

Henry Morgan

There was a boy who found a freedom that he felt
He swore he’d sail Spanish Main
‘Twas a man who wore a pistol in his belt
And Henry Morgan was his name

Henry Morgan, where you going?
Can you tell me where you’ve been?
Hey, hey, Young Henry
Can you tell me what you seen?
‘Cross the sea, deep blue sea

There was a boy who found a freedom that he felt
He swore he’d sail Spanish Main
‘Twas a man who wore a pistol in his belt
And Henry Morgan was his name

Henry Morgan, where you going?
Can you tell me where you’ve been?
Hey, hey, Young Henry
Can you tell me what you seen?
‘Cross the sea, deep blue sea

There was a time when he sat happy in his home
Sweet Patience took him for her own
Came a time when he got restless, for to roam
And Henry Morgan roams alone

Henry Morgan, where you going?
Can you tell me where you’ve been?
Hey, hey, Young Henry
Can you tell me what you seen?
‘Cross the sea, salt, salt sea

Here comes my friend Henry

There was a time when he set sail to fair Panama
And sin and slaughter walked the walls (Yes they did)
There were those who said that he couldn’t take it all
But Henry Morgan never falls

Henry Morgan, where you going?
Can you tell me where you’ve been?
Hey, hey, Young Henry
Can you tell me what you seen?
‘Cross the sea, cruel, cruel sea

Yeah, bye-bye, Henry
My old friend Henry
Bye-bye, bye-bye, bye-bye, bye-bye
Bye-bye, bye-bye, bye-bye, bye-bye, bye
So long, Henry
So long, so long, Henry
Bye-bye, bye-bye, bye-bye